1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an IDE interface adapter, and more particularly to such an IDE interface adapter adapted to connect a 36-pin interface device to a 50-pin mobile rack.
2. Description of Related Art
Computer technology has been well developed nowadays. A variety of computer hardware and software devices have been disclosed, and have appeared on the market. For high mobility, a variety of mobile racks have been developed for use with a personal computer. A mobile rack comprises an IDE interface connector. Most IDE interface connectors for mobile racks are of 50-pin design for connection with the motherboard connector of a computer. A mobile rack has a front hole for the insertion of, for example, a hard disk driver, and a circuit board on the inside for signal transmission control.
Due to dimensional limitation, these mobile racks cannot be directly used with a notebook computer. In order to connect a computer peripheral apparatus to a notebook computer, an adapter, for example, PCMCIA to IDE, USB to IDE, print port to IDE, 1394 (fire wire) to IDE, or SCSI to IDE adapter means shall be used. However, it is inconvenient to use a particular IDE interface adapter to connect a particular peripheral apparatus to a notebook computer.
Therefore, there is a strong demand to have an IDE interface adapter, which enables any of a variety of mobile racks to be electrically connected to a notebook computer. When designing an IDE interface adapter, power circuit arrangement must be carefully considered. Because a regular 36-pin connector can provide 5V working voltage only, which does not fit all kinds of mobiles racks, for example, a 3.5xe2x80x3 hard disk driver requires 5V and 12V for normal working.
The present invention has been accomplished under the circumstances in view. According to one aspect of the present invention, the IDE interface adapter comprises a box, and a circuit board mounted in the box. The circuit board comprises a first connector having 36 pins for receiving the 36-pin connector of an IDE interface device, a second connector having 50 pins for receiving the 50-pin connector of a mobile rack, a first power adapter, and a selector switch connected in series to the first power adapter. The selector switch is shifted to alternatively connect the second connector to the first connector or the first power adapter, enabling the second connector to receive a working voltage from the first connector or the first power adapter.
According to another aspect of the present invention, the first power adapter provides two working voltages to said second connector.
According to still another aspect of the present invention, the circuit board further comprises a first indicator light, which is turned on when the second connector is electrically connected to the first connector or the first power adapter, and a second indicator light, which is turned on when the mobile rack which is connected to the second connector is in operation.